Phool Gantuche !!

...not an adventure really, but something of an adventure, if a person doesn't know what he / she is doing.

It has been a long long time since I wrote in my blog, around a month or so since I am visiting India right now. And once I got here, I got super busy, housework, visiting friends, visiting relatives, functions and the like. Currently I am in Mangalore. Its a bit of a relaxed atmosphere here and I am enjoying the free time. Phew !! This is going to be a long long post...

I guess only people who know Konkani will have understood the title of my post. It means - tying flowers into a garland shaped thing. Well, I am glad to say I am pretty good at it. So many people of our generation do not know how to tie flowers. They would rather use a needle and thread and sew through the flowers, which will look good - but thats not the traditional way of doing it. And this method looks so much more prettier.

There are a bunch of flowering plants in my parents' garden. My dad is a big fan of gardening and he takes care of and tends to so many flowering plants. Every morning, he picks flowers that have bloomed  for pooja at the house. Apparently priests from nearby temples and other neighbors come to our house asking for flowers to keep in their God's abode.

Anyway, there is a type of jasmine called "Jaai Mogare" (in konkani) or "Jaaji Mallige" (in Kannada). Its a beautiful white flower like the other jasmine species, but has these pinkish streaks on the petals making it all the more prettier. These jasmine flowers are also thin and long unlike their more famous Mysore jasmine counterparts. They also have a very sweet smell which is not as overpowering as the Mysore jasmine flowers. Heres a pic of a few Jaai jasmine flowers from our garden.

Starting the garland

I remember when I first learnt to tie flowers together. My grandparents were living in Kavoor at the time. Kavoor is a small town near Suratkal / Mangalore, more nearer to Suratkal than to Mangalore. We used to visit them for holidays. At one of these times, my grandpa taught us how to tie flowers. Yes, my grandpa (my mom's dad). It was he who taught us all grandchildren (atleast me and my sister) how to tie flowers, how to ride a cycle, how to ride a moped etc., Its surprising isnt it ?

Anyways, if he had given us flowers for the first try, we would probably have heaps of torn flowers, because we need to have proper tension while tying the flowers. The stems of flowers are very very delicate and if we pull the thread a little bit tighter, they cut through the stems and the flowers are not reusable. So he gave us mango leaves for our first try and a roll of thread and showed us the procedure. Mango leaves are so rough. At times, we pulled the thread so hard, that we cut through even the thickest of the leaves... LOL. Well, practice makes man perfect. He would not let us touch a single flower, until we got the leaves right.

The next step was withered flowers / flowers which are slightly rotten (a single rotten petal and the sort), which wont be used in a fresh garland made for God. We had to get those right. Once we got through this step, we were allowed to tie a few good flowers. We could remove them from the garland just by pulling the flower slowly and then retie them. We had to do this until we got it all right :) / until the flowers were so weather-beaten that they could not be reused again. Anyways, the result of all that hard work is what we have now !! A superb beautiful garland.

Completed garland

Looks like another flower in itself. Beautiful isnt it ?

Its funny what all man has developed for his needs. Tying flowers to keep them together is one such thing. Moreover it increases the beauty of the flowers (lots of colorful flowers can be tied into 1 colorful garland). And its a lot less messier when the flowers dry up and the place needs to be cleaned / the flowers need to be thrown away. Women can take a piece of the garland and place it in their hair (its a tradition to do this in India) instead of a few separate flowers, which cannot be pinned into the hair on their own. Whatever is the necessity, the solution to all that is Gantilele phool (tied flowers).

.... but I survived !!

Ever imagine life without the internet ? For us tech savvy people, it kind of feels that we are handicapped if we dont have internet for a few hours in a day. I read somewhere that a human body can go for several days without food and water, but can hardly stay 11 mins without internet. Well, I survived for 10 hrs without internet and it was not pleasant, but I survived.

Yesterday the router here was spoilt and I was not able to connect to the internet. It was a totally weird experience for me. Not knowing what to do. The major part of the day was spent in trying to get the internet to connect, trying on and off by switching off the router and switching it on again, restarting the laptop again and again just to confirm it is not a problem with my laptop, and then changing the wi-fi settings on the laptop. It was living hell, but I survived.

Finally I realized that the internet was just down and I wont be able to do much in this case. So, I just picked up a book regarding interview questions and began scanning through it just to pass time. At-least some of what I read there will help me during my interviews hopefully. I then watched some TV - not Netflix - god knows it doesnt work without the internet :) - just watched some TV shows while having lunch. I then settled down for a nice siesta and enjoyed every moment of it. Well, I did not have much to do anyways. What else was I supposed to do ? Anyways, it was ok, but I survived.

In the evening, my uncle was back from work and when he tried to correct the damn internet connection, he realized that the router had gone bad and he immediately bought another one on craigslist, picked it up from the seller's house and set it up. Lo and Behold, we had internet connection again. So, thats my 10 hours of agony time without internet connection summed up into - lets see here - 3 paragraphs. So, just goes to prove that internet is not everything in life. You can still do other things in life. Dont be glued to the laptop / computer all day peeps. Learn to enjoy other things in life, and you wont regret it later on. All in all, it was a good day, and I SURVIVED !!

- So

A Trip to the Mall and some more...

Today was a pretty eventful day... I had to go to the bank in the morning to set up an ExpressSend account. Do you know Wells Fargo has a tie-up with ICICI in India - and you can send money to an ICICI account in India for a very low service fee of $5 for upto $5000 remittance. Anyways, after that, I went to the mall with my uncle and when he initially asked me, I said (like a big show-off) that I dont shop much and I definitely wont take much time...

However, when we reached the mall, there was a door buster sale (50% off) and since I am going to India in a few days, I decided I will buy clothes for my niece and nephews since I am getting them at good prices.... Oh My !! There was such a vast selection of clothes, that I was just stuck there trying to decide what to buy and what to leave back... because, 1. you dont want to repeat the design, 2. you dont want to get all clothes in similar colors, and 3. you just cant decide between the awesome designs that are printed on children's clothes today !!! Anyways, finally after an hr of casting off and throwing selections back and forth, I decided on 10 different tops and t-shirts for the kids and we were out of there.

Here are some pics of the clothes.... :)

Whatever this was... I have nooo freaking idea !!

My personal favorite - although its not a cartoon :)
Sure shot recipe for DISASTER !!

Yep it came with a toy !! The pixar Cars !!

One more toy !! Wonder what it is - looks like a bug, but it says it lights up :-?

Spiderman - DUH !!

Toy Story 3...

Clothes for my niece....

Clothes for little girls are sooo soooo soooooo cute these days, that it is impossible to select between them... I love shopping for little girls... Its so nice to see all those cute designs and prints on the kids' dresses. Here are a few I picked up for my niece.

So true !!

LOVED this one... especially the knot on the bottom right corner.
Makes it look sooooo sassy !!

Anyways, after reaching home, a short nap in the afternoon was a must - skipped lunch because I had had a pretty heavy breakfast of tandla bhakri. Woke up and watched remaining few mins of a movie that I was watching the other day "Dhoondte Reh Jaoge". Then, it was time to cook dinner. I was in such a hurry making dinner and readying for tomorrow's breakfast, that I burnt the back of my middle finger badly. Hurts real bad... I must have held it under running cold water so many times today, but still after 5 mins of stopping the water, it starts burning again. Must be a real bad burn... will see what to do about it tomorrow.

Until then, ciao
- So

I LOVE TROUBLE !!

Thats the name of the movie I watched a couple of hrs back... Oh my !! What an awesome movie... took me straight into a mystery novel and I loved every minute of it.

The plot was very well-laid and it made me wish again that I was somewhere in the detective business... thats the kind of things I think when I read detective / mystery novels :) What an adventurous life they must have, those people who solve mysteries... not to mention the level of intelligence they have, without which they would not be able to connect links or deal with jigsaw puzzle pieces !!

But, its a very very dangerous profession, wonder how many times they come face to face with death and survive it.

Back to the topic, this movie starred Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte and was released back in '94. Yep, quite an old movie, but well-worth a watch. Why did I watch such an old movie you say ?? Well, for starters, I am a huge Julia Roberts fan... who isn't - she is, after all, one of the top American actresses of all times. I absolutely love her and I was kind of going through her movies list on IMDB and came across this one. Sounded intriguing and the rest is history.... Anyways, gotta go to bed now - its 3.45 am here and I have a long day tomorrow.

I will be back with more posts soon

- So

Childhood Memories **reminisces**

Today was pretty uneventful except that something great happened today !! I met who must probably be one of my oldest classmate so far.... I mean not in age (in the number of years we have known each other).... I have known him since kindergarten and it was fun meeting him even though the meeting lasted for just 20 mins or so.

We spoke about so many of our childhood classmates and reminisced about the past, the fun we had, where everybody was, stories, memories.... it was nostalgic :)

Also, he was the first childhood classmate that I met probably after 17 yrs.... wow !! long time :)

Well, hope to visit and see some others soon !!!

- So

Doing good so far....

Hey u'all,

I think I am doing good progress with my activities plan. I put up 2 recipes in the past 3 days in my recipes blog - YUMMMMY DAYS... !!!

Apart from that, I created my odesk profile so that

1. I can brush up my skills.
2. I can pass some time by working on some projects while I am hunting for a job.

Lets see how it goes for the next few days.....

Until then
- So

BORED TO DEATH !!

Ever been in a point in life, where you are bored to death itself ?? Wonder why its related to death ? Does it mean you would rather die than remain bored ? Whatever !!

Anyways, have decided today in such a mental torturous situation that I have to write something in my blog everyday. So in order to have matter to write in the blog everyday, I will probably do some significant work everyday ??? !!!! Well, that's the plan at-least for now :)

Lets see what it is for today... I will write back tonite... Keep waiting !!

Hey... looks like a diary entry to me :)

- So

GRADUATED !!!

Yay !!! the day of my dreams is finally here.... I officially graduated today with an MS in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Georgia.... I am super happy and even more happy that I am going to share this weekend with my BESTEST of friends. However I miss some of my friends from my days at MIT, Manipal :( Wish you guys were here....

BTW, I was kind of searching for something on the internet and accidentally ended at this web page.... funny - but highly unlikely though :)

What Happens IF INR 1RS=USD $ 1OO

Enjoy the conversation.....
- So

Its finally here

Yes, my defense date has been scheduled and I am waiting to get it over with so I can finally concentrate on other things in life. Lets hope it goes well and I come out of this with colors atleast - if not with flying colors :)

- So

WISH LIST !!

I have always harbored a passion for the creative arts (painting, music, knitting, crochet etc.,). Also, I am good at a few of them :), thanks to my parents..... they always encouraged me to learn new things !!

As a sequel to my New Year's resolution (none of the items on my list have been checked out as yet), I am putting up my wish list here :), a "things to do before I die"-of-sorts.

I have learnt some of these on a basic level, but I wanna be atleast on an intermediate expertise level :)

• Learn how to play the guitar (tried my hands at this and absolutely loved it).
• Many more projects in Knitting and Crochet (have promised my dearest friends some handmade gifts - hopefully soon).
• Learn tennis.
• Expertly fluent in French. Also wanna learn a host of other languages - especially interested in German, Chinese, Japanese, Korean (have a fascination for Chinese and the like -- because to the naked ear, all the words in the language sound the same --- I am sure they are just pronounced with a twisted tongue :P)
• Learn different dancing styles - already know basics of Salsa, Belly dancing and Bharatnatyam (what diversity hehe !!)... wanna complete my learning curve :)
• Would love to Zumba more --- wow !! its just an awesome feeling when you zumba.... its a "not have a care in the world" feeling. You just dont care that someone is watching. You are dancing crazily and well, its helping too --- you definitely lose a lot of calories. So being ignorant is totally worth it.
• Wanna learn singing --- I am kind of a kitchen singer i.e., I sing when I cook. I dont have a formal training and would love to get one. I love to hear people singing. So, maybe someday I can hear myself sing beautifully :)
• Would love to be able to swim better --- again, I know only the basics. I would probably not drown if someone pushed me into the water, but I am aiming at losing weight through swimming, for which I need to be at intermediate level - and build up enough stamina to do quite a few laps a day. Just love the water though.... thank god I am not hydrophobic :)
• Build a robot (intelligent machine / intelligent software) some day --- ONE FINE DAY maybe :) would be totally proud of myself if I did.
• Have some paintings of my own :P Not for sale or anything... just for me to look at and be proud of !!!

Phew !! Seriously a diverse list of stuff to do.... Oh well, so what.... I dont want to be a master of one trade, but rather a jack of all !! I know its quite a weird list, but I believe I can do it and I know I am especially good at some of them. So, why not ??

Well, until the next update.

À bientôt - So.

The freedom and the snow !!! ... TO ... TANGLED !!

Hey you all out there,

I missed you all a lot the past couple of days, or rather couple of months. Was too busy with my thesis work. Fortunately or unfortunately my thesis got postponed by another semester, so I am still stuck here, "in the middle of nowhere", I would like to call it, both literally and figuratively.

Lemme explain,
Fortunately, because, I am not "hot" in the job market as yet. Infact, jobs are being taken off the market like hot potatoes. Hopefully, I will be too.
Unfortunately, because, I was feeling that I was soooo done with the thesis work. I still feel that way. But looks like I am soooo not :(.
Hmm, I guess you all understood my figurative meaning to "in the middle of nowhere". Anyways, I finally finished writing my thesis clean draft... All I have are some small minor changes left, so all I can do is go ahead from here. Lemme see where that will take me.

As for other things in my life, nothing really exciting has been going on lately, except that I have been thinking a lot about both my personal and professional life and want to write and express so many things, that they are all jumbled up now.... oh I suddenly remembered --- I saw the movie "TANGLED" recently... most appropriate word for what I am feeling right now.... but what a cute movie it was ---- absolutely LOVEEEEEED it. Okkk !! now u know exactly how tangled I am. So what was I saying ? Yeah... I have these 1000 thoughts, which I wanna express, but dunno where to start and where to continue. I will try getting to them in later posts. Lets see how successful I get on that front.

I havent done much of cooking either, so I dont know what I am gonna write in my other blog. I was however thinking of starting on some knitting, now that its winter. Ok !!! The title of this post as I write reads "The freedom and the snow !!". What was I thinking of writing ?? Frankly, I dont remember. I am gonna change the title right now. There, DONE !! Intuitive, right :) Wrong... It sounds so stupid, but I dont wanna change it.

Oh, btw, has anybody gotten to the point where they could cross off one of the items in their new year's checklist ? I havent, mainly because, I never had a list in the first place !!! As I said, too many things on my mind. Moreover, I somehow have never believed in them. Never worked for me. I still hope to do the basic things though. Here are 10 of them.

1. Graduate soon.
2. Get a job.
3. Dont go on a diet, but reduce weight..... this one NEVER EVER works !!
4. Communicate more with my family and friends.
5. Have fun in life.
6. Learn something new.
7. Get back to my artistic hobbies (knitting, drawing, crochet)... would LOVE to check this off my list.
8. Eat healthy.
9. Get un-tangled :) thats a new thought.
10. Travel to someplace soooooo gorgeous.... that everyone gets envious of me.

Hmm, I hope to check off atleast the first 2 off my list soon. Anybody else who wants to share their lists here is welcome. We can all keep track of each other's lists and try to reaaalllllllly get there this time.

So long folks,
So.